THE ORIGINS OF PROTESTANTISM 



the old tribal bonds was effected by the process 

 which brought him into immediate relations with 

 a state possessing a dominion that was practically 

 universal, and with Deity regarded as eternally 

 ruling the whole created world. The individual 

 salvation of each human being, as dependent 

 upon his spiritual attitude toward his heavenly 

 Father, is an idea distinctly present in Christian- 

 ity as first enunciated, and in the prominence 

 assumed by this grand idea the old notion of 

 tribal allegiance to a tutelar deity fades entirely 

 out of sight. The idea that salvation is to be 

 attained through conformity to a certain pre- 

 scribed set of opinions or of ritual observances, 

 or through obedience to a certain ordained priest- 

 hood, finds no support whatever in the teachings 

 of Jesus as reported in the Gospels. So far from 

 lending support to this primitive idea of religious 

 obligation, Gospel Christianity is in itself a most 

 emphatic protest against it ; and it was through 

 this wholesale discarding of primitive ideas that 

 Christianity secured from the outset an element 

 of permanence such as no other scheme of re- 

 ligion has ever possessed. Miraculous legend, 

 impressive ceremonial, priestly devotion, doc- 

 trines awful or consoling, these things have at 

 times been potent influences in maintaining the 

 sway of Christianity over the human mind ; but 

 the potency of such influences as these is limited 

 in extent and in duration, it is dependent 



